Vermiculture

Vermi-Composting Websites:

• Red Worm Composting
• Composting With Worms
• How to Make Your Own Worm Composting
• Worm Composting
• Composting In Schools
• Worm away your cafeteria food scraps
• A Vermicomposting Guide for Teachers - excellent source of information to help classroom composters
• Classroom Activities

Amount of compost needed to produce exactly 2" of compost for each of our eight 4'x4' raised beds + one 2'x3' tub garden = 38592 cubic inches.

1 gallon = 231 cubic inches

So we need 167 gallons of compost at the end of the year.

Materials needed:

• 17 10-gallon tubs (Walmart: $4.97 each) - drill 8-12 1/4-inch holes in the bottom
• Aluminum trays (cookie sheets - 2 for about $2 at Walmart) or cafeteria trays to place under bins
• Wood scraps to raise the bin
• 1 pound (or 1000 worms) of worms per container; 17 pounds of worms; can use half as many - they will reproduce.
• shredded newspapers
• a few handfuls of soil per container
• vegetable and fruit waste, coffee grounds, finely crushed eggshells
• spray bottles or watering cans to mist ($2 each at Lowes)
• Container for storing compost?

Red Wiggler Vendors:

• Uncle Jim's Worm Farm 5000 worms for $89.95; 20,000 worms = $359.80
• Worm Crusader(located in Barboursville, Virginia) 10 pounds for $195.99; 20 pounds = $391.98
• Worm Factory 4 lbs for $73; 20 pounds = $365

Note - maybe start with fewer bins and expand to more bins as worms multiply. Can we store compost before we need to use it? Use plant sale money to buy more materials?